The Associated Press reports that President Barack Obama is planning to focus on the economy in a series of upcoming speeches. Since his second inauguration, the president has focused on gun control, immigration reform, and climate change--leaving jobs and the economy aside, though opinion polls consistently indicate that Americans are more concerned about the economy that any of these other issues put together.

Announcing the policy shift, White House aide Dan Pfeiffer said on Sunday night--without irony: "The president thinks Washington has largely taken its eye off the ball on the most important issue facing the country." He did not mention Obama's repeated focus on other issues, striking a posture that casts scorn on Washington politics, though the president himself exerts great control over Washington's policy agenda.